topic Function dim in macro in SAS Programming

Function dim in macro

mansour_ib_sas — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 13:56:09 GMT

Hello

can we use the dim function to define the size of vector in a macro ?

Thank you

Re: Function dim in macro

PaigeMiller — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 14:02:57 GMT

Yes, you can put any data step command and any function in a macro.

Macros are just text substitution ... instead of %macroname or &macrovariablename, code is substituted depending on the value of the macro or the value of the macro variable, so when this code substitution happens, you must wind up with legal valid (not erroneous) SAS code.

Re: Function dim in macro

Astounding — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 14:06:49 GMT

No. The DIM function applies to DATA step arrays only.

However, you can use the COUNTW function, as long as you apply %SYSFUNC:

%do k=1 to %sysfunc(countw(&macro_list));

There are only mild restrictions. Be sure that your macro variable isn't null, and the same delimiter must be used to separate all values within the macro variable.

In retrospect, it looks like @PaigeMiller and I interpreted your question differently. You may need to give a little more description on what you are trying to achieve.

Re: Function dim in macro

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 14:08:35 GMT

Dim() is a function that expects an array as argument. Since arrays exist only in data steps, you cannot use them outside.

If you want to record the size of an array, use call symput() in a data step:

data _null_;
set have;
array myvars {*} var:;
call symputx('dim',dim(myvars));
stop;
run;